Julius beekey and william b



(No Model.) I

J. BERKEY' 87; W. R. POX.

FURNITURE GASTER. No. 345.613 Patented July 13, .1886.

. To all whom it mag concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J ULIDS AND VILLIAM R. FOX, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN; SAID FOX ASSIGNOROF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO SAID BERKEY.

FURNlTURE-CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 345,613, dated July 13,1886.

Application filed July 29, 1885. Serial No. 172,993.

Be it known that we, J ULIU's BERKEY and WILLIAM R. FOX, both citizensof the United States, and residents of the city of Grand Rapids, in thecounty of Kent and State of Michigan, have jointly invented certain newand useful Improvements in Furniture-Casters, of which the following isaspecifieation.

Our invention relates to removable furnitu recasters; and its objectsare, first, to provide plate to the furniture without the use of screwsor nails; fourth, to provide improved antifriction wheels and method ofarranging the same; and, fifth, to provide a suitable casterspindle witha ball on the top when such spindle cannot be cast integral with thecasterframe. \Ve attain these objects by means of the mechanismillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is avertical sectional view of the caster when inserted, taken on the line XY of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a front view of the caster, track-plate, andsocket attached together and removed from the furniture. I Fig. 3 is atop plan View ofthe frame holding'the anti-friction wheels. Fig. 4 is aperspective view of one part of the socket. Fig. 5 is a perspective viewof the spring for holding the shank of the caster in position. Fig. 6 isa bottom view of a bureau or other piece of furniture having acaster-block with the track-plate and socket attached. Fig. 7 is aperspective view of the same without the track-plate and socket. Fig. 8is a sectional view of another form of the half-socketand spring, andFig. 9 a view of the shank when made separate from the casterframe.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views. e Ais the caster-wheel, attached in the usual manner to the frame B, saidframe carrying the anti-friction wheels a, a, and a, located above thetop of the floor-wheel.

To the frame B is riveted the shank or spindle R, having at its top theball or enlarged head N.

.thespring afterriveting.

(No model.)

The anti-friction wheels revolve on the lowest portion of thetrack-plate T, which is constructed in the curved form shown, and has onits upper and outer edge the teeth 2'; t, and is held up in position bythe flange F on the socket c c. This socket is'constructed in two equalparts, one, (2, having the projection or collar H, which may besemi-annular or of any.

suitable form, the other, c, having the spring S attached, as follows:The half 0, when malleable iron is used, is made in the form shown inFig. 4, with the opening D and lug or lugs s s, and the spring S, madeof sheet-steel or other suitable metal, and cut by one operation of thepress, has notch or notches s s, to fit the lugs s s. The spring S isinserted through the opening D with the lugs as in these notches and thespring projecting up on the inside of the socket. The lugs are thenriveted down on the spring, holding the latter firmly in po- 'sition.

These notches on the'spring prevent the possibility of any longitudinalslipping of One notch and lug will accomplish the same purpose, thoughnot so securely. I

WVhen the half-socket c is made of cast or gray iron, we construct it inthe form shown in Fig. 8, with the two openings D and D.-

The lower end of the spring is passed down and out through the opening Dand down and in through D, and prevented from slipping up or down by alug and notch, as shown in Fig. 4, or by any suitable catch. So far aswe know, all practical devices heretofore used for automatically holdingthe shank in place by a spring have the spring attached to the socket bydrilled holes and inserted rivets. Our obj ect is to do away with bothof these.

The track plate T maybe cast in the form shown or cut from sheet,1netal,and then formed up. In the latter case it would not havetheshoulder shown at a in Fig. 1. The teeth on theouter and upper edgeattach the plate to the wood, prevent the latter from splitting, andalso assist in holding the plate and socket together in position on thefurniture. The socket c c has a flange, F, on its lower end, which, whenthe socket is driven into position, combines with the teeth to hold thetrack-plate firmly against the wood. This track-plate is especiallyvaluable when used on furniture requiring a caster-block, as a portionof the teeth engage the frame of the furniture and the remainder engagethe block, holding it securely in place. \Vhen used with the commoncaster, without the anti-friction wheels, the track-plate is still ofservice in assisting to hold the socket more firmly in the wood, and inpreventing the latter from splitting.

On account of the peculiarly curved form of the track-plate, as shown,it serves as a shoe, permitting the easy sliding of the furniture whenthe caster is temporarily removed, preventing the flan geF from catchingon the floor, and avoiding the necessity of chamfering the edges of thebottom of the leg.

The frame B carries a series of two or more anti-friction rollerssupported on axles, the ends of which are journaled one in the outer rimof the frame and the other in an annular collar or series of lugs risingfrom the bottom plate of the frame. One of these axles is shown in thedrawings, lettered b b, which is retained in position by having the endb bent downward after insertion. The internal collar of 'the frame,which surrounds the shank, as

\Vhen only two of these anti-friction wheels are used, they arearranged, as shown by a and a in Fig. 3, so that their centers are bothin the same vertical plane with the center of the floor-wheel, and asthe floor-wheel and anti-friction wheels are rigidly attached to theframe B the centers of these three wheels will always be in the samevertical plane, thus always securing the distribution of the weight ofthe furniture between two anti-friction wheels. Vhen oneor more similarwheels, as a, are added to the series, the two wheels a and a arelocated outside of the aforesaid vertical plane, so as to give a part ofthe weight to the additional wheels, and they are thus located upon oroutside of this vertical plane irrespective of the relative distancesbetween the wheels of the series. In devices now in use, where theanti-friction wheels are located equidistant one from the other, it isimpossible to secure, having two of them always on or outside of thevertical plane of the floorwheel, without making the caster too large.

The shank shown in Fig. 9 is made of wrought or malleable iron, with theball N or equivalent enlargement at the top. -\Vhen used in connectionwith a caster-frame this shank may also have the shoulder m; but theshoulder is not essential in all forms of casters. On account of itspeculiar form it is sometimes impossible to cast such a headed shankintegral with the caster frame. This difliculty we avoid by making it ofmalleable or wrought iron, as described, and then sceuring it to theframe.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim to have invented, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a furniturecaster, the combination, with a socket having anopening in its side, of a spring rigidly secured to said socket andpassing through the opening therein, having bearing places both on theinside and outside of said socket, substantially as described.

2. In a furniture-caster, the half-socket 0, provided with the opening Dand lugs, in combination with the spring S, provided with the notch s,to engage the lug.

3. In a furniture caster, the combination of a socket having a flangeand a track-plate with its central portion sufficiently depressed toreceive the entire flange above the lowest surface of the plate when inposition, substan tially as and for the purpose described.

4. In a furniture-caster, a track-plate having the outer portion of itslower surface of the annular convex form, and the central portion of thedepressed form, shown and described.

5. In a furniture caster, the combination of a track-plate and a sockethaving a flange adapted to engage the said plate and hold the same ontothe furniture, substantially as described.

(i. In a furniturecaster, the combination of the track-plate T, providedwith teeth t t, and the socket c 0', provided with flange F, the flangeadapted to hold the plate securely against the wood, and the teeth toprevent the wood from splitting, and to hold both more firmly,substantially as described.

JULIUS BERKEY. \VILLIAM R. FOX.

\Vitnesses:

ARTHUR O. DENISON, FRED \V. SrEvENs.

ICO

